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"This is a great feeling. I have been dreaming about this since I was a child. There was a second place last year so it's nice to be first now. Luca [Paolini] did a great job in the final. I also had [Alexander] Porsev there but we lost each other in the corners. I sat on [Matteo] Trentin's wheel and then waited, waited and waited. Champagne tonight but not too much party because it's a hard stage tomorrow," Kristoff said.

Astana's Vincenzo Nibali still leads the overall with a 2:23 margin on Team Sky's Richie Porte and 2:47 to Movistar's Alejandro Valverde.

How it unfolded

It was a last chance for the sprinters and possibly for a breakaway before the Tour de France travels to the Alps on Friday. After an initial attempt by Netapp-Endura's Bartosz Huzarski, Sebastian Langeveld (Garmin-Sharp) attacked at kilometre five. Gregory Rast (Trek Factory Racing), Florian Vachon (Bretagne-Seché), Simon Clarke (Orica-GreenEdge) and David de la Cruz (Team Netapp-Endura) joined the Dutch champion.

The five worked well together and gained a maximum lead of five minutes. In the peloton, Giant-Shimano did the work for their designated sprinter of the day, John Degenkolb.

At 94 kilometres from the finish, in the town of Oingt, David de la Cruz crashed in a corner. The Spaniard took Langeveld with him. The Dutchman could continue but De la Cruz abandoned the Tour de France with a broke collarbone.

On the third of the four climbs of the day, the Col des Brosses, Rast and Vachon had to let Langeveld and Clarke go. On the last of the climbs, the fourth category Côte de Grammond the Europcar duo Pierrig Quemeneur and Cyril Gauthier attacked from the bunch.

Yesterday's stage winner Tony Gallopin (Lotto Belisol) got dropped from the peloton in the last 10km. He also dropped from the top 10 of the overall classification.

Clarke dropped Langeveld, and the two Frenchman joined the Australian up front. With a marginal lead of 30 seconds they started. Race organizers awarded Clarke the combativity prize but he and the French duo's efforts were futile.

Photo: Tim De Waele

Tom Dumoulin worked hard in the peloton to bring back the peloton and his Giant-Shimano teammate Degenkolb. Sagan's Cannondale teammates and Kristoff's Katusha teammates helped the chase.

It was a dangerous finale with André Greipel, Sylvain Chavanel and Sep Vanmarcke crashing with three kilometres to go. The German winner of the sixth stage to Reims was clearly displeased with Chavanel's manoeuvre.

Up front, Luca Paolini was the first to start the final kilometre. Degenkolb was fighting to get a good position for the final straight but was blocked by Omega Pharma-Quick Step's Matteo Trentin. Race officials relegated Trentin to 60th place.

When Kristoff launched his sprint Sagan sat on his wheel. The Slovakian rider tried to get passed the Norwegian but had to settle for his fourth second place in this year's Tour de France. French Champion Démare finished third.